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In a rare new interview while promoting his performance in Zach Braff’s “A Good Person,” Morgan Freeman said Sunday times that he was insulted by Black History Month and the term “African American”.
“There are two things I can say publicly that I don’t like,” Freeman said. “Black History Month is an insult. Are you going to turn my history into a month?”
“Also, ‘African-American’ is an insult,” he added. “I don’t subscribe to that title. Blacks have had various surnames all the way to the n-word and I don’t know how these things get such a grip, but everyone uses ‘African-American.’ What does that really mean? Most blacks in this part of the world are of the Apostles. And you say Africa as if it were a country when it is a continent, like Europe.”
when Sunday Times Correspondent Raised by Denzel Washington, who once said, “I’m so proud to be black, but black isn’t all that I am,” Freeman added, “Yeah, exactly. I’m in complete agreement. You can’t define me like that.”
Freeman’s quotes recall recent quotes by Idris Elba Social media stirred in Feb After revealing that he does not refer to himself as a “black actor” because he places restrictions on his career.
Elba told Esquire UK: “As humans, we’re obsessed with race, and that obsession can hold back people’s aspirations and hinder their growth. Racism definitely should be a topic of discussion. Racism is very real. But from my point of view, it’s about as strong as you let it be. Stopped About describing myself as a black actor when I realized he put me in a box. We have to grow. We have to. Our skin is nothing more than that: it’s just skin. The rant is over.”
Elsewhere in his Sunday Times interview, Freeman admitted that he became so famous as an actor at a certain point in his career that he could no longer be the “chameleon” or “personal actor” he had intended to be.
“When I started my career in film, I wanted to be a chameleon,” said Freeman. “I remember De Niro early on when he did very different parts. He’s almost unrecognizable as an actor himself. I’ve had opportunities like that. But when you mature in this business, you eventually become a star. So you’re very screwed in terms of referring to yourself.” As a character actor. You play a lot of the same kind of roles—people hire you and say, ‘You’re the one I want.’ And you live with it.”
“I don’t think I’ve done much in the last 10 years that would have been much different,” Freeman noted. “Driving Miss Daisy” and “Glory” were different. now? It’s just… me. The character will adjust to you rather than the other way around, so I do what interests me. Sometimes it’s just money alone.”
Freeman often plays sage-like characters, which is exactly what he does in Braff’s “A Good Person.” The movie is now showing in theaters.
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